ESPN summer forecast projects Raptors to win 3rd seed with 47 wins

The queen bee (no, not Lorde nor Lil’ Kim) has spoken. Now what say you in this hive of worker bees?

Every summer, the fine execs at ESPN try their best to fill the haunting void between the end of free-agency and the start of the preseason. For the most part, their solution is all-NFL, all-the-time, but they do cater to die-hard basketball fans as well. For those of us who prefer the elegance of putting leather balls through 10-foot hoops rather than the savagery of watching 300-pound humans smash into one another without reproach for humanity, the mothership offers Summer Forecast, which aims at predicting team standings, award winners, etc etc. As is the rule of sports media, if you can’t break news, generate discussion. This is the latter (though ESPN is just one Woj away from corralling the former).

An esteemed panel of 210 writers and analysts were polled, and their responses were aggregated to generate the forecasts. Laying our cards on the table, Raptors Republic’s very own Blake Murphy’s vote was counted, so direct your ire towards him. Without further ado, here’s where the Raptors ranked (full post here).

Overall Record: 47-35, First in Atlantic Division, Third in Eastern Conference

Feel free to discuss below. We’ll have our own write up on how the East will shake out next season in the coming weeks. The Raptors Weekly crew of myself, Andrew and Zarar touched on the subject a few episodes back. We also ranked the Raptors third.